


Spinning a Web of Lies from Sugar and Spice

by aroundu



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hanging Out, Humor, idk what to say they're just vibing, prank
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:09:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,182
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24490336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aroundu/pseuds/aroundu
Summary: Kohaku’s purple eyes stared into him with a face as blank as a cloudless sky. Not the response Hinata was expecting; he expected Kohaku to be shaking with excitement and awe to be in the presence of someone who possessed such a flashy assortment of skills, but instead the silence was lapsing into something uncomfortable.Then his eyes widened, and Hinata finally thought he understood, but instead he spoke, “ah, you one of those circus folk, ain’t ya?”
Relationships: Aoi Hinata & Oukawa Kohaku
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	Spinning a Web of Lies from Sugar and Spice

**Author's Note:**

> i wrote this for a friend and this is also my first time writing Kohaku so I hope it's not too bad ^^ enjoy

The mission is given to him on short notice, but completiting it is a life or death situation- the fate of multiple people resting on its success.. Distribution of important documents, including dates and high-ranking names, was the objective, and the methodology required it to be spread in broad daylight. Moving naturally, with the ease of having a casual conversation, yet still enticingly engaging to have people listen to the information. 

There are many reasons as to why Hinata would be selected for this mission. His history of being a street performer allows him to mingle with passersby and draw crowds with ease and acquire little malicious suspicion, and instead curiosity. Along with that history came skills of coaxing people to listen to his words, persuasive tactics that even the busiest businessman would falter and pause for. Yes, this is a mission Hinata had been training for his entire life, and accepting it was as easy as accepting the last slice of a cake.

“You’re just passing out flyers. Stop being weird and go do your job.”

His brother’s words had shattered his wonderful monologue and had Hinata moping all the way to the town center, holding a collection of papers advertising the impromptu live show to be hosted tomorrow with loose, defeated fingers. How cruel Yuuta has become when he used to love listening to Hinata’s fantastical stories. How tragic it is that Yuuta shoved him to go away and do his job after Hinata tried so valiantly to explain why he’d be missing band time.

Oh well. Handing out flyers was an easy enough job, there were no tall tales to be told on that front. This would be an easy few hours of work and a nice pay from CosPro since it came at such short notice too. Even if the dude he was assigned to work with is someone Hinata’s never met before, he’s confident in his ability to mingle.

Kohaku Oukawa. Hinata knew that he was a member of Crazy:B and a student of Remei Academy, but beyond that the only other thing he knew was that he had pink hair. Said knowledge is what led Hinata to easily spot the boy on the street and stride over to him.

“Oukawa-kun! Hi~ I hope I’m not running late, but this was kinda thrown on me at the last minute,” Hinata greeted. Kohaku turned to him, and Hinata was taken aback by his furrowed brows and lips drawn into a line. “Ah? I swear I’m not late on purpose!”

“What?” His expression remained sour for a moment more then softed as he huffed a sigh. “Oh, you’re here to help. It were gettin’ real tough bein’ out on my own, so thank goodness ya showed up.”

Hinata listened to his words while taking a glance around the area, and while there were plenty of people downtown at this time of late afternoon, none seemed to be sparing much glance towards Kohaku, and instead were much rather ignoring his presence all together. Looking at the amount of flyers he still had in his hand, Hinata could guess that this lack of success didn’t start just as he arrived.

“Well, here I am! We’re gonna have to get some people interested, and lucky for you this is my specialty~” Hinata gripped the flyers in his hands tighter with a grin. 

Kohaku’s eyes narrowed as he looked out at the people walking by. “I’ve tried, but no one seems interested at all. They just keep walkin’ on and mindin’ their business.” He turned to Hinata. “What’s ya name by the way?”  
“Oh! I forgot to say- my name is Aoi Hinata, but please use my first name or else you’ll confuse me and my twin brother.” 

“Hinata-han then- it’s nice to meet ya. Now, how exactly is this here,” Kohaku lifted the flyers in his hand and motioned towards the people passing by, “y’all’s speciality?”

Hinata held his chin and made a big show of thinking. “Hmm… Well I can do three flips or four- but that may be excessive given this space. If I stretch for a few minutes then I can do some contortion… What say you, Oukawa-kun?”

Kohaku’s purple eyes stared into him with a face as blank as a cloudless sky. Not the response Hinata was expecting; he expected Kohaku to be shaking with excitement and awe to be in the presence of someone who possessed such a flashy assortment of skills, but instead the silence was lapsing into something uncomfortable.

Then his eyes widened, and Hinata finally thought he understood, but instead he spoke, “ah, you one of those circus folk, ain’t ya?”

Hinata laughed before any ounce of offense could muster itself to rise within him. “You know, I’ll take that as a compliment! Now, let me get a crowd going, then you can move around and hand out the papers.”

The hardest part was getting the first person to stop and watch. It was easy to stop and watch a performance when there were other people stopped in observation; joining a group was a simple, indisputable fact of human nature. Amateurs will find little success in this task if they expected people to eventually catch onto the amazing  _ potential _ they had for a show, but the locals of a busy street have not enough care nor time to assess whether someone could be the next big performer. Entertainment here and now was the viewership guidelines, and a principle Hinata has understood from a young age. 

Demanding attention not with an outcry of words- though the pizzazz of a well-constructed speech did wonders to suck people into the story of a show- but with a swan-dive right into the heat of the action. If he had been camped out here all day, then Hinata would spend the time to hype up his performance before it started since shopkeepers would make smalltalk with customers throughout the day of the happenings around the area, but that wasn’t a privilege to be had here. This wasn’t Hinata’s first impromptu performance, not by a large amount, and with wonderful weather and such a crowded area, he couldn’t ask for better starting conditions.

So, after an hour of flips and a variety of elbow stands- people could never get enough of seeing someone twist their body so impossibly- all the flyers had been passed out by a more than helpful Kohaku. And instead of returning to Ensemble Square so soon, Hinata convinced the first year to kill time exploring the downtown shops so that they could get paid for the expected amount of hours.

If Yuuta wasn’t around to see Hinata be a bad influence on underclassmen, then there wasn’t a single problem to be had.

Kohaku was a rather polite boy, Hinata observed. He engaged in the small talk Hinata supplied, but he didn’t seem to feel any need to start any of his own conversations. To say he reminded Hinata of Shinobu would have been off the mark though- where Shinobu was kept silent by his nervousness, Kohaku seemed to be one kept quiet by consideration for his surroundings. More than once he caught the boy staring at the people walking around with perked eyebrows and a watchful stare, enraptured by something Hinata believed to be nothing extraordinary. 

His companion’s silence was broken when they passed a candy store and Kohaku stopped walking to peer inside the window.

“All these here sweets are lookin’ right darn tasty.” 

Hinata glanced up at the sign of the shop and smiled with recognition. “Oh! This is one of my favorite candy shops. Let’s go in~ Let’s go in~” Hinata pushed Kohaku into the store ignoring his scrambled protests.

As soon as they were inside, and after a moment of gathering himself, Kohaku was instantly moving to the glass displays and checking the variety of sweets available. 

“I’m a fan of all sweets, as any good, stand-up person should be, but I will say I’m fond of the hard candies here the most! Cheap, flavorful, and they last a long time!” Hinata pointed to the selection of candies in bright, colorful wrappers. “Oh! But also the fudge here is to  _ die _ for! There’s so many wacky flavors you would never even think to create, and each one is so, so good.”

Kohaku took his eyes off the displays to meet Hinata’s. “Well I’ll be. You know a mighty lot about sweets. Why ain’t ya in the sweets fan club?

Hinata sighed. He would’ve loved to have been in the sweets fan club- it was like a club made just for him. But first and foremost he’s a leader of 2wink, and that carries its own special workload. Not to mention his membership in the light music club, gardenia, and even the band time they have at Ensemble Square so that Rei can partake. Also being the advisor for Ibara at the summit meetings, and picking part-time jobs that ES hands out to scrape up some extra money for 2wink. Hinata should just join Crazy:Bee, because he certainly feels like a busy little worker bee.

“I’d love to, Oukawa-kun, but I’m a pretty important guy, so I got lots and lots of things to do!” Hinata settled with this answer. No need to impose rants about his busy schedule onto the boy.

Kohaku nodded, though he looked off to the side with a sigh. “Wish ya was there. Y’all’d be able to get my cousin to lighten up.”

“Cousin? Who’s your cousin?” Hinata wasn’t even sure who was in the sweets fan club, and no guesses came to mind.

“Tsukasa Suou.”

Hinata blinked. “Oh.” 

It made a lot of sense. The intense, violet eyes should have been a dead giveaway, and the penchant for having a sweet tooth didn’t help matters either, but connecting the dots on family relations seemed to be something Hinata was not an expert at.

Hinata then flashed Kohaku a grin. “If Tsukasa-kun is being his big ol’ hothead self, then it’s the perfect set up to have some fun and rile him up!”

“I can’t do that cause then he’ll get all mad and start up family troubles.” Kohaku fiddled with his fingers. Seemed like there was more he wanted to say.

“Hmm, well  _ you _ can’t, but I can. I mean, if there’s anything I’m known for best at Yumenosaki besides being a twin, it’s being the mischievous, scheming,  _ pranking _ twin.” Hinata cracked his knuckles, an excited energy going through his body.

Kohaku looked contemplative for nothing longer than two seconds then he fixed Hinata with a matching smirk. “If you offerin’ then who am I to refuse, Hinata-han.”

Hinata could feel his trickster heart thundering and raring to create an excellent plan, one so amazing, yet simple, because the greatest pranks come from a gentle nudge to topple into foolery. It would be a great and honest pleasure to infuriate the knightly Tsukasa.

“So, here’s what we can do…”

* * *

Kohaku’s fingers tapped against his thigh with unbridled anticipation. The sweets fan club meeting was outside today, taking seats at a table in the nearby park. If Kohaku didn’t know any better, he would truly believe that Hinata bumping into their meeting spot was a big coincidence; the senior’s laughter an easy sound to make light of such a chance encounter. 

Easier to follow was his sudden gasp and bringing forward a paper bag. “Oh, Tsukasa-kun! It’s rather lucky I’ve run into you. I was trying out a new baking recipe and I just so happen to have some leftovers on me. Do try it~” 

“How fortunate indeed. Your desserts are always amazing, so I’ll be delighted to try.” Tsukasa’s polite smile became as sweet as he likely thought the cookie he pulled out of the bag would be.

Kohaku shared a glance with Hinata, who looked incredibly pleased when Tsukasa took a large bite out of the cookie with no hesitation. It took a few seconds of chewing, but immediately the effect was apparent and Tsukasa was ducking his head to the side and spitting.

“Wha? It’s  _ spicy _ !” He waved his hands in front of his mouth and turned a betrayed gaze to Hinata.

Hinata’s body shook with his roaring laughter and Kohaku joined him with quieter giggles, ignoring the glare from his cousin. “Oh my, Tsukasa-kun~” Hinata chided. “It’s so rude to spit out your food, especially since I just gave you that as a gift! How unbecoming of a knight.”

While Tsukasa launched out his chair to start arguing with Hinata, Kohaku’s cheeks started to hurt with how hard he’d been smiling and laughing. This is all he could ask for, just having innocent little fun like this. When he’d been assigned to hand out flyers, he felt his heart drop since he wasn’t the most charismatic person around, but now he’s so thankful he was there. 

Each day is a little less lonely. 

There’s new opportunities to come with each rising sun.

And on this shining day, Kohaku’s made a new friend.

**Author's Note:**

> here's my [twitter](https://twitter.com/AOlHlNATA) and my [curious cat](https://curiouscat.qa/haiba_alisas) where I sometimes take requests


End file.
